Former President Donald Trump referred to boilerplate language in an FBI document released Tuesday to baselessly claim the Biden administration wanted to kill him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach nearly two years ago.
“WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox’, and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe BidenThe Department of Justice ALLOWED the FBI to USE DEADLY (DEADLY) FORCE during their illegal and unconstitutional raid on Mar-a-Lago,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday evening. “NOW WE KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT FOR A CRAFT – 25TH AMENDMENT!”
The claim was also promoted online by his supporters.
But the language Trump referred to is a standard policy statement used to serve search warrants and was not unique to the FBI’s search of his property. It’s actually intended to limit the use of deadly force.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.
CLAIM:
The Biden administration authorized the use of “deadly force” against former President Donald Trump during an FBI investigation into his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022.
THE FACTS:
The policy statement on the “use of lethal force,” which appeared in an operations order for the search of Mar-a-Lago, is not evidence of a plot to assassinate Trump. It is a Department of Justice policy that should be included as standard in such documents.
“The FBI followed standard protocol in this search, as we do for all search warrants, including a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force,” the agency said in a statement. “No one has ordered additional steps to be taken and there has been no deviation from the standard in this matter.”
As reflected in the operations order, the policy provides in part that Justice Department officials “may use deadly force only when necessary, that is, when the officer reasonably believes that the person confronted with such force poses an imminent danger to the public.” means death or life.” serious bodily injury to the officer or to any other person.” The policy is contained in the Department’s Justice Manual, with only minor differences in wording from what is in the order, and is summarized on the FBI’s website.
Frank Figliuzzi, former deputy director of counterintelligence at the FBI, reiterated in an X-post what the agency said in its statement.
“Yes, every FBI operations order contains a reminder of the FBI’s lethal force policy,” he wrote. ‘Even for a search warrant. Deadly force is always permitted if the requisite threat exists.”
A motion that Trump’s lawyers filed in his federal case involving classified documents, which was also unsealed Tuesday, alleged that the August 2022 search was unconstitutional and “illegal,” misquoting the operation warrant as saying that “law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use lethal force if necessary.”
Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago, which was closed for the season, at the time of the search. The Associated Press reported at the time that the FBI had contacted the Secret Service, which provides protection for the former president and his homes, shortly before the warrant was served.
The facts did not stop Trump and his allies from spreading the false accusations.
A fundraising email from the Trump campaign with the subject line: “They were authorized to shoot me!” was sent shortly after he posted on social media making even more outrageous claims.
“I almost escaped death,” it says. “You know they just want to do the unthinkable. … Joe Biden was locked and loaded, ready to take me out and put my family in danger.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP about the false claims.
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, wrote in an X-post that “the Biden DOJ and FBI planned to assassinate President Trump and gave the green light.”
Kari Lake, a Republican Senate candidate in Arizona, wrote in her own X-post: “The sick Biden FBI was ready to use lethal force during the Mar-a-Lago BS raid. That tells you everything you need to know about this criminal Biden administrator.”
Trump was accused in June 2023 of illegally keeping classified documents he took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in January 2021, and then obstructing administration demands to return them to give. Additional related charges were filed a month later. The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago as part of an investigation that led to the indictment.
